HOLMES.) VARIETIES OF BEADS. 221 



the tribes of the Pacific coast aud the Pacific islands. The prominent 

 part of the back is cut or ground away, and the columella is partially 

 or wholly removed, a passage the full size of the natural aperture being 

 thus secured. This is also an ancient as well as a modern method of 

 treatment. 



Small bivalve shells are prepared for stringing by drilling one or 

 more holes in the center or near the margin, according to the manner 

 in which they are to be strung. Such beads have been in almost uni- 

 versal use by primitive peoples, both ancient and modern. 



Shells with natural perforations, such as the Fissurellas and BentaUa, 

 are extensively employed by the west coast peoples, and foreign varieties 

 of the latter have been largely imported by Europeans, and from very 

 early times have been used by the tribes of all sections. The natural 

 perforation of the Fissurella is often artificially enlarged, and addi- 

 tional perforations are made near the margin. Examples may be seen 

 in Plate XLIX. 



I shall include under the head of beads all small objects having a 

 central or nearly central perforation, made for the purpose of stringing 

 them in numbers. In shape, they range from straw-like cyh'nders, three, 

 four, and even five inches long, with longitudinal perforations, to thin, 

 button like disks, two or more inches in diameter. In general the cyl- 

 inders are made from the columellse of univalves, and the disks from 

 the outer walls of the same, or from the shells of bivalves. Of course, 

 there are forms that fall under no classification, such as disks with per- 

 forations parallel with the faces, or cylindrical forms with transverse 

 perforations, while many small, pendant-like objects, of varied shapes, 

 are strung with the beads, and might be classed with them; but these 

 are exceptions, and can be described along with the classified objects 

 most nearly resembling them. 



The grinding down and the perforating of natural shells is easily 

 accomplished, so that any savage could afford to decorate his person 

 with this jewelry in profusion. But the class of beads illustrated in 

 Plates XXXIII, XXXIV, and XXXV could not have been made with- 

 out the expenditure of much time and labor, and doubtless owe their 

 existence, in a measure, to mercenary motives. As they were made 

 from the walls or columeUai of massive shells, they must have been 

 broken or cut out, ground smooth about the edges, and perforated; this, 

 too, with most primitive tools. 



DISCOIDAl BEADS. 



In shape discoidal beads range from the concavo-convex sections of 

 the curved walls of the shell to totally artificial outlines, in such forms 

 as doubly-convex disks, cylinders, and spheroids. In size the disks 

 vary from very minute forms, one-tenth of an inch in diameter and one- 

 thirtieth of an inch in thickness, to two inches in diameter and nearly 

 one-half an inch in thickness. The thickness of the finished beads is 



